The Matchmaking Agency (ON-HOLD)
by kcabfy
Summary: When Clove hesitantly agrees to help Cato with his one-night-stand-kind-of-guy problems, she didn't know what she got herself into. Clearly, she missed the fact that getting involved with it means spending a lot of time with Cato. And that leads to her wondering why she agreed to help him in the first place. [Modern AU]
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, guys! So I've had this idea for a very long time, and I've been working hard on plotting the storyline well for it to have a good flow. But anyway, tonight I finally managed to finish writing the first chapter, and this is it! I hope you'll like this. This is my first time writing a Hunger Games fic, so I hope it's going to turn out well.**

**Enjoy! Oh, and just a reminder, this is an AU and possibly everyone might be OOC. This will also be posted on my Hunger Games Tumblr blog, but probably in a different version.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

"I declare this meeting officially opened!" Rue announces, gaveling her shoe on the wooden desk in Fox's chosen bedroom. "Before we start with our weekly progress report, I just want to say a few words to all of you."

Clove, Fox, and Glimmer roll their eyes as Rue jumps down from the desk. The four of them are gathered up in Fox's bedroom in Peeta's beach house in California. The rest of their friends are either downstairs in the living room or in the kitchen, or are wasting the day away in the game room at the basement.

Summer has just barely started for all them, excluding Marvel, whose college will start summer break a little later than everyone else, as they had a lot of unnecessary day offs throughout the entire school year. Peeta had decided that since they are all adults that are capable of actually watching out for the younger ones, Prim and Rue, he accepted his friends' offer to let them stay at the beach house for three weeks. They were even aiming for a month, but Peeta being the "responsible one" amongst everyone—even though Thresh should be because he's the eldest—declined by saying they have families that they may want to spend time with.

"There's two more months of summer, Peeta. That means we got _a_ _lot _more time with our family to spend than with one another." Katniss retorted, after hearing Peeta turning down the one-month offer.

Back in Fox's room, Rue paces back and forth, all the while slapping her palm gently with her shoe.

"First and foremost, The Matchmaking Agency will possibly be hard at work for the next three weeks we will all be together here in Peeta's beach house. As we may have read in some novels, or have watched in movies, a bunch of teenagers in a house together usually don't end pretty. There's going to be a clash sooner or later." Rue informs.

"I don't know about the clash, Rue." Clove speaks out. "You know our friends very well. Yes, they can be hardheaded and annoying at most times, but we always make up even before something can get worse."

"Wrong." Rue points the shoe at Clove. "You are wrong in so many levels, my dear. A lot can happen in three weeks, you know."

"But…"

"If I were you, Clove, I'd brace myself for what's coming."

Before Clove can voice out another complain Rue jumps onto the bed, clapping.

"Anyway," she giggles. "Any progress report? Anyone? Glimmer? Should we start with you?"

Glimmer sits up straighter on her spot on the bed exceedingly. Her smile alone clearly suggests she managed to have her excited hands on something interesting.

"Well," she starts, dragging the last two letters of the word longer to somehow stimulate exhilaration; "Thresh came up to me yesterday and asked for advice."

"Details?" Rue demands. She's lying on her side with her temple resting on the palm of her hand.

"As you may have noticed, the first night we arrived here at the beach house, Cato and Thresh already went out to have some much needed manly time. And according to what Thresh had told me, he was attracted to this one girl he met at the pub, but then at the same time, he feels like he's cheating on his 'girl' back home."

"Please don't tell me he's referring to my sister." Clove groans, allowing her head to bow down exasperatingly, her long, black hair covering her face. For some unknown reason, as much as she loves Thresh because he's like her real-life giant, cuddly teddy bear, she just can't see him going out with her sister at all. They're very, very opposite.

"He has fallen way too deep, Clove." Glimmer answers with a pout, making Clove feel even more...disgusted, for a lack of a better word. "Love is love, anyway. It's not like you can choose love for someone."

Clove raises her head and looks at Glimmer astonishingly.

"But isn't that what we're doing? We're called The Matchmaking Agency for a reason, Glimmer! We choose love for people!" She says as her hands go ballistic. It's like she wants to punch something…or a certain someone.

"But don't they always end up together, Clove?" Glimmer counters. "We established this group in the first place because of our common skills in setting people up on dates. Do you remember YourHotMamamia27 from our blog? Remember when she asked us for help finding her perfect one?"

Clove presses her lips together before looking Glimmer in the eyes. She nods slowly in reply.

"Ooh, I remember her!" Fox suddenly pipes in. "Her username still gives me the chills to be honest. No kidding, guys." She shivers, making a nauseating sound in her throat.

"It's good that you all remember because that leads me to my second progress report."

Citing that, Rue regains her focus.

"The day before we set off to this trip, I received an invitation in the mail. Apparently, YourHotMamamia27 is getting married to her YourHotPapi27 next month, and she wants every member of the Agency to attend so she can thank us all personally!" Glimmer squeals in delight, her hands clapping buoyantly.

"So does that mean we have to fly all the way to North Carolina?" Fox questions, adjusting herself on the bed so she's lying on her stomach. "Just to attend a wedding?" She adds.

Glimmer pauses. "Well, uh…I don't know, guys. Should we go? I mean, _I _think we should because we literally saved her life—her words, not mine—and it would be quite disappointing if we turned her invitation down."

Clove knows what Glimmer is attempting to do. She's known her for ten years to know exactly that she's trying to make the Agency feel guilty about their obvious decisions regarding YourHotMamamia27's wedding. Somehow, Clove can't deny the feeling in her stomach that going to this wedding will benefit Glimmer in a way that she can't explain.

Feeling that she's only overthinking the situation, Clove shrugs it off.

"Rue won't be able to come." Fox points out. "I'm pretty sure that after this vacation, her parents won't allow her to go on another trip. And I'm also sure that Cato, Thresh, and Peeta don't want to undergo the same process they went through just to get Rue's parents to agree to take her with us."

Rue became friends with the group when she was a sophomore and the rest of them were seniors. Her sassiness and intelligence had drawn Fox's attention, and when Fox first went to have a talk with her, they immediately clicked. Sooner, the entire group had grown fond of Rue and her natural sense of humor. She became the envy of most sophomore kids in school.

Unfortunately, Rue's parents had learned about the group's rather rebellious activities, especially with Cato and Marvel that slowly, they started to lose her parents' trust. They started to have a sense that they're all bad influences to their daughter.

It took them a while to earn half of the trust back. And this trip just might help the group gain the remaining half. That is _if _they managed to bring Rue back home in one piece.

Prim is only with the group for the entire vacation due to Katniss, but she's hung out with the group numerous times before that they actually consider her as part of the circle.

"I'm pretty sure we can work something out for this." Rue sits up from her position on the bed, as her arm is starting to feel numb. "But as for now, we still need to hear some reports. In that way, we can make a separate schedule for our outside assignments, _and _have another one just for the coming weeks of our stay. Sounds good?"

Rue looks at each of them separately, silently asking for approval. Seeing them all nod in response, she crosses her legs in front of her before announcing that she has something to report.

"Prim and her 'boyfriend' back home are having troubles." Rue starts. "Apparently, the guy is _madly _in love with her and is really determined on being in a relationship with Prim. But, on the other hand, Prim feels like she's not ready, and that she needs to focus on her studies more."

"So, Prim thinks that her boyfriend is being a distraction?" Clove inquires. Her eyebrows are furrowing together in bafflement.

Rue nods.

"Well, personally, I think she shouldn't have gotten a boyfriend in the first place. She shouldn't have a boyfriend at all! She's too young!" Clove raises her voice, sounding a little too maternal.

It's quite understandable, though, why Clove would feel that way, as her co-agency members think. Prim is like their little baby, their snowflake, and their innocent little primrose in a field of dandelions.

"That's what I've been trying to tell her!" Rue responds. She reaches for her hair and starts to pull at it. "Her problem is that she doesn't want to let him go! She's got it in her head that she'll never find someone as kind as him."

Glimmer and Fox sigh.

"Prim is young. She still has a lot to learn about love. And based on what you just told me, her first lesson would be about letting someone go." Fox says. "Because, seriously, she needs to _let it go!_"

Rue points at her, all the while nodding her head in agreement.

Suddenly, Fox's laptop dings, notifying the Agency that they have a new ask on their blog. Rue is the closest to the desk so she reaches for it effortlessly and places it on the bed. The four of them instantly gathers around it.

Rue clicks the notification button and their customized blog (the girls had a hard time finalizing the design as someone always want a different color scheme, a different font, etc.) promptly appears on the screen. The four leans closer to read the new question sent to them.

"From BootyReggae," Glimmer reads, which earns a snort from all four of them. "Dear Matchmaking Agency, first of all, a friend of mine highly recommended your blog so I went to check it out, and I've been browsing through it for the past two hours! Literally. Your advices are the bomb and when I clicked on the 'Accomplishments' page, I learned that you've helped a lot of people. And I've never read a single negative review about you."

Glimmer pauses for a while to let the compliment sink in. She clears her throat before resuming.

"But anyway, I'm preferably directing this ask to Rue because I think she's just so wise and has enough sassiness in her body. To start off, I am a sixteen-year-old girl, currently in my junior year of high school, and I've liked this boy for almost two years now. My friends had been encouraging me to talk to him, but I'm having a hard time doing so. Not only am I too shy to approach him, but also our social statuses are highly different. I'm just an average kid, and he's popular. I'm afraid to talk to him because he's always with his friends, and I feel like I'm just going to be a laughingstock. Help! I honestly don't know what to do!"

Glimmer finishes, looking at each of her co-agency one by one, before settling her gaze on Rue since the question is directed to her.

Rue taps her chin repeatedly in thought.

"Just because the ask is for me doesn't mean the three of you can't help." Rue informs. "Look, this girl is in a serious situation, in my opinion. After reading her ask, it's pretty easy to tell she's really desperate to talk to him. It's been two years anyway. Imagine how many feelings she's bottled up."

"So…what do we say?" Fox asks.

"Here," Rue says as she faces the laptop towards her. She places her fingers on the keyboard before typing briskly, voicing out each word she types. "First of all, I just want to say that your username has successfully amused the Agency. We can tell by that you have a nice booty, so cherish it! Second of all, put on your big girl shoes and grow a pair—"

"Hey!" Clove playfully swats Rue's arm. "That wasn't really nice!"

"She wants an advice from me." Rue deadpans.

"So? That's not an excuse for you to be so rude. Erase that, Rue."

"Clove, wanting an advice from me automatically means you're strong enough to face my brutal honesty."

"At least tone it down a notch." Clove advises.

Rue raises her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. If it will help you sleep at night, I will."

Clove can easily hear the sarcasm in her tone of voice, but decides not to mention anything about it. She listens to Rue once again as she turns back to her intervened advice giving.

_Nothing will ever happen if you're just sitting there and gazing at him from afar. Don't even try to deny the times you daydreamed about you two being together. Do something about it, if you want those daydreams to become reality! Talk to him, and don't mind his friends. Don't mind if they'll laugh at you, at least you know in yourself that you had the courage to talk to your crush. You know for sure that you are not a weakling. _

_You want to know if he's interested? Get to know him, and allow him to get to know you too. If he finds out who you really are as a person, he might even fall for you. It's only a matter of time and courage, BootyReggae._

_Wishing you the best of luck, Rue xoxo_

Fox, Glimmer, and Clove all lean towards the laptop screen after Rue returns it back to its original position on the bed. Her advice has received three different reactions: Glimmer looks like she's impressed with Rue's choice of words (she has a tendency to be overly sassy when giving advices), Fox approves of it as she realizes that she'll probably say the same thing as well if the ask was directed to her, and Clove just has her eyebrows raised.

Although Clove won't admit it, Rue knows she likes what she's reading. Of course, setting the part of the advice that she clearly despises.

Rue clicks the post button and within a matter of seconds, the question plus the answer is posted on the Agency's blog.

"All right, meeting is officially closed. You may now move on with your lives." Rue announces as she slips off the bed and puts her ballet flats back on.

* * *

Fox is the last one to exit the room. It's hers anyway so she obviously has to clean up whatever mess the Agency left inside. Apparently, Rue was at the beach before the meeting because she found her desk partly covered with sand. She used her shoe as a gavel and the sand probably fell off.

As the door clicks shut, she turns around and she literally feels like her spirit has left her body in utter surprise. Her hands fly to her chest, while she fights to regain her normal breathing.

"My goodness, Cato, are you trying to kill me?" Fox raises her voice, still panting. "You could've announced yourself or something rather than just stand there!"

Cato stifles a laugh. Fox rarely shows any sign of weakness or defeat, and today he manages to scare her. He feels very victorious because that's exactly what he's aiming for.

"Don't just stand there smiling like an idiot!" Fox is now yelling. "What do you want?"

"I heard from Thresh that you and your posse are amazing at giving advices to people." Cato starts.

Fox sighs heavily, already knowing where the conversation is heading off. "I don't have time, Cato."

"Come on, Fox." He begs as she starts to walk down the hallway that leads to the staircase. "Look, I really need some help. I don't want to be the one-night stand kind of guy anymore."

With that, Fox stops in her tracks and turn around to face him, her arms crossing over her chest. She raises her eyebrows as though asking him if she's heard him right.

"Say what now?"

"I said, I don't want to be the one-night stand kind of guy anymore. I actually want to _be_ in a serious relationship. For once, I just want to know the feeling when I take a girl home, and I don't have to watch her leave the following morning. I want a girl who _stays_." Cato admits, which is quite unusual since he's confessing to Fox.

_To Fox…_

Never in Cato's wildest dreams has he thought of this moment happening. _Never._

"And you realized all this because…?" She purposely leaves her sentence trailing.

"I was out with Thresh last night and we went to this pub. There are a couple of girls that caught my eye, but they both turned me down." He explains. "Do you now see the problem here?"

"I don't see why those girls shouldn't turn you down." Fox mutters as a response.

"Excuse me?"

"Life is unfair, Cato. Just because you're…_you_ doesn't mean girls would always want to sleep with you. They have their own standards, and maybe those girls just don't feel like you're…_it._"

"Just help me, Fox. What do I do?" Cato asks, his eyes pleading.

"As I have said before, and I'm going to say it again, I don't have time for this, Cato." Fox answers. "Now, move your ass out of the way."

They're on vacation so obviously; Fox has all the time in the world. She just doesn't want to deal with Cato. She knows what to exactly do with his situation, to be honest. He needs some matchmaking magic, and doing just that obviously requires a lot of time alone with him. She needs to learn what he likes in a girl, she needs to go on meetings to show him the girl she found that will match with him just right, and there's still going to be some advices being thrown out once in a while, because she's a hundred-and-one percent sure Cato is going to make some mistakes that strongly requires a backup.

And with Fox having an ongoing love-hate relationship with Cato, she doesn't really want to indulge herself in such hard work.

But someone may be willing to.

"Please, Fox. I'll do anything you ask me to, if only you'll help me." Cato is now on the verge of getting on his knees.

"Cato, I'm not the perfect agent for your situation." Fox blurts out.

"Agent?"

"You wouldn't understand." Fox waves at him dismissively. "But I do have a recommendation. Go to the kitchen and you'll find her there."

With that, Cato comes running down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Fox scoffs. "Good luck." She says, knowing for a fact that Cato won't find anyone in the kitchen at this time of day.

* * *

Clove is putting the dishes back to where they originally belong in the overhead cupboards when Cato comes barging in.

"Clove?" He questions in surprise.

She, in return, furrows her eyebrows and tilts her head a little to the left in pure confusion.

"Yes?" Clove answers slowly. "Is something wrong, Cato?"

Cato shakes his head.

"Then, why are you acting so weird?" She lets out a nervous laugh, still speaking slowly.

Cato then recounts his conversation with Fox, and what she asked him to do.

"So Fox thinks I'm the right agent for you?" Clove asks.

"Okay, seriously, what is up with the agent thing?"

"It's none of your business." Clove simply replies, returning her attention back to stowing the dishes to its rightful places.

"Will you help me then, Clove?" Cato questions, walking towards her and stopping once he's right next to her.

"I didn't say anything about helping you."

"Please, I just want to change for the better." Cato begs.

For all Clove knows, he's probably growing impatient with all this pleading stuff he's forced to do. He brought this upon himself anyway, she thinks.

Running her tongue across her upper teeth, Clove allows a sigh to escape before looking at Cato straight in the eyes.

"Fine," she says, "I'm going to help you."

Due to his overflowing satisfaction, Cato wraps his arms around Clove's tiny frame, unintentionally squeezing her.

"Thank you, Clove! You're the best!"

Clove rolls her eyes while she struggles to get out of Cato's embrace.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll officially start tomorrow."

* * *

**Please let me know what you guys think of this, so I'll be motivated to write the next chapter :)**

**Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the long wait, but school's been evil lately. But anyway, it's so fun reading all your comments and I'm glad that you're all liking this! I promise you, you don't know what you got yourself into *wink, wink***

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Two**

Clove stretches her stiff body upon waking up fully. She glances at the clock placed on the wall right across from her, and notices that it is only six in the morning. Usually, she wakes up even earlier than that so she will have enough time to run in the morning, and then get ready for school.

Rather than getting up and doing her habitual yoga routine, Clove wraps her body with her blanket even more as she stares at the ceiling. Last night she's had trouble sleeping because she kept on pondering and pondering the fact that she's accepted to help Cato with his problem. She never really wanted to say yes in the first place. She very much knows Fox's reasons as to why she passed him to her. The matchmaking process requires a lot of alone time with the person because of the inevitable need to get to know him better and learn what his specific requirements are.

Cato is going to be a tough and a possible hopeless case, Clove thinks.

She bites her lower lip. Fox may assume that she's only being hesitant last night because of the said tough matchmaking process, but to Clove, that is not mainly her reason.

She likes Cato. Period.

And seeing him with another girl is just going to be plain torture for her.

But his eyes—his electric blue eyes that are just_ begging _for her to help him, and she just can't say no. She can't do anything about it because that's what basically her entire being is trying to imply, as something a good friend would do. Though she already _does_ think agreeing is the right thing to do, because who is she anyway to stop Cato from attempting to find someone he can be in a serious relationship with?

Cato is not some kind of video game character that she can control anytime she wants, because in the end, Cato will always be the one holding the controller and leading his character where he desires.

Clove sits up from her bed and shakes her head to clear her thoughts. No, she thinks, I can't be thinking about Cato this early. There's enough time in the afternoon for that.

Luckily, the sound of the shower running and low humming coming from the room next to hers takes her back to her normal state. Clove groans having recalled who's currently occupying the said room.

Peeta.

She finally throws the blanket off of her body and stands up. She stretches out her stiff muscles for the second time before walking towards the wall and banging on it. Hearing no response, she bangs harder, and this time she gets a satisfying "_Hey!_" coming from Peeta.

Clove does her morning bathroom routine in less than ten minutes and heads down to the kitchen to serve herself some steaming green tea. As some people would prefer coffee to jumpstart their day, she opts for the unique earthy taste of the said tea.

After pouring the steaming water on her cup, she gently puts the small packet of green tea inside, and decides to head out to the veranda of the beach house. Looking out the window a while ago and seeing the sun just barely came out; she's made an assumption that today is going to be a great day. She can just feel it.

Clove raises the cup to take a sip, but just as it scarcely touched her bottom lip, the front door opens and in comes Cato, with his tousled hair and sweaty self. He is panting heavily, and he has this odd tendency to narrow his eyes when regaining his breath. All in all, Clove pretty much thinks he looks like a wild beast that hasn't been out of his habitat for decades, and is in urgent need of a prey.

Because of that, Clove lets out an ear-shattering scream Cato thinks is worthy of its own alarm clock.

* * *

Rue abruptly sits up from her bed having heard of a loud screaming coming from downstairs. Groggy but swift, she hangs her legs on the side of the bed and her feet searches for her night slippers. She finds it and quickly puts it on, but because of her eagerness to know what the commotion is downstairs, she doesn't notice that she's wearing the wrong pair.

"Don't _dare_ drop that cup!" Rue hears Cato crying out as soon as she opens her bedroom door.

Prim wakes up a second after Rue is out the door and immediately follows suit. Unlike Rue, she wastes no time searching for her night slippers. She just comes out in her socks, forgetting the fact that Peeta's beach house is not carpeted.

She runs down the stairs and just as she's about on the same step as Rue, her foot slips and her other leg accidentally kicks Rue on her back.

"What the—?"

"Ow!" Prim screams in pain, not because she fell on the stairs (luckily, she catches a grip on the handle and is able to regain her balance), but because someone hit her shoulder. Hard.

Prim swivels and sees Thresh with a baseball bat in his hands. Upon seeing her, his eyes instantly widens as he realizes what he's done.

"Did I hit you?" Thresh frantically asks. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

"Who was that?" Fox suddenly questions from the top of the stairs. She lifts her eye covers and squints her eyes as though trying to comprehend the situation.

"What the heck is happening down here?"

Everyone turns around to see Peeta standing next to Fox with a towel wrapped around his lower body, and his chin covered entirely with shaving cream, the razor still in his hand.

"Get out of my way! Move! Move! Move!"

Katniss, out of nowhere, just comes sprinting down the stairs with a hand wrapped around her neck. Because of the gagging noises she's creating, Peeta seems to have catch on to what is happening to Katniss.

"Oh, my goodness, Katniss is choking!" Peeta exclaims. "She's dying! Someone get her water! Quicker! She's freaking dying over here!" He repeatedly pats her back as they make their way to the kitchen.

Once Katniss and Peeta have reached the bottom of the stairs, out of panic, Clove unintentionally splashes her tea all over Katniss. It's the closest thing to water she can think of to provide her, as no one is really scurrying to get her some proper beverage.

There is a sudden moment of silence.

Katniss seems to be frozen, so is Peeta. Cato and the rest of the group are obviously gawking at Clove, apparently not believing that she did that to Katniss. Clove is eyeing every single one of her friends and mentally, she can feel herself shrinking down in complete stupidity and embarrassment.

_"Hot!" _Katniss screeches, running towards the kitchen with Peeta on her tail.

As the two disappears into the kitchen, the entire group turns to Clove once again. She, however, is still frozen on her spot. The cup is still being held on the same position when she dumbly splashes her tea on Katniss.

Fortunately for Clove, Fox suddenly breaks the silence.

"Thresh Oladayo Okeniyi, what in the world are you doing with a baseball bat?"

Thresh turns to Fox, his expression masked with utter incredulity. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sincerely apologizing for wanting to protect my friends because I thought someone broke into the house and tried to kills us all!"

"Pardon me for my obvious stupidity! It's six in the morning!" Fox retorts, rolling her eyes at Thresh and storming back to her room.

Cato blinks from the bottom of the stairs. Wow, he thinks, Fox actually admitted to her own fault. That's…rare.

Katniss and Peeta finally come back from the kitchen, Katniss looking as fresh as ever. Although her brown hair is still tousled, and there's still an evidence of her midnight snacking escapades down the corner of her mouth, her smile is nevertheless as wide as it always is. It's almost as if the steaming tea did not splashed her.

"Thanks, Clove, for that amazing wake up call," Katniss compliments. "I really appreciated it."

Clove scrunches her nose as she takes a quick glance at Cato before averting her gaze to Katniss. "I don't know if I should be thankful, because I'm not quite sure if you're being overly sarcastic or not."

Katniss waves her comment dismissively. "Oh, I'm one hundred percent _un-_sarcastic. To be honest, I think I'd be doing the same thing anyway if the roles were reversed."

"I'm still not sure if you're being sarcastic or not." Clove responds slowly.

Katniss doesn't provide an answer this time.

Although there is another moment of complete silence, it's not because they are all speechless about Clove's doings this time, but it's because of the awkward tension that rarely transpires among the group.

Rue speaks up soon enough.

"Peeta, put some clothes on and make us some breakfast."

He doesn't even have the chance to complain.

* * *

Cato resurfaces from the water, and runs a hand down his face to be able to open his eyes properly. Looking around, he notices that the boys are the only ones enjoying Peeta's backyard pool (he still don't get why he has a pool when the beach is just a short walk away), and the girls are mainly sunbathing or inside the house possibly gearing up to visit the actual beach.

He turns around and eyes Clove alone by the beach chairs. Her long black hair is tied up in a messy bun, and her sunglasses resting perfectly on the bridge of her nose. She's wearing a beige cover up, but Cato—or anyone in particular—can still see her Aztec patterned bikini under it. Her legs are stretched out fully in front of her, and she's occasionally chewing on her lips as she flips through the magazine she has in her hands.

Clove catches him looking and gives him a smile and a wave.

Cato informs Thresh and Peeta that he's heading out of the pool and the boys mutter their responses. He places both his hands on the edge of the pool before effortlessly pushing himself up.

Because she's wearing sunglasses—bless the person who invented these—Cato won't notice her checking him out from the corner of her eye. Her constant lip biting isn't because of her focusing on a certain article on the magazine, it's because she's been looking (she prefers that term since 'watching' sounds kind of stalker-ish) at Cato for the past few minutes. And when she sees him pushing himself out of the pool, she bites her lip again when she sees the muscles in his arm becoming very visible.

Her heart thumps even harder when Cato apparently is making his way to her. She clears her throat and adjusts herself on the chair to make her extra comfortable for the oncoming few minutes she's going to spend with Cato alone.

She tilts her head to the side, pretending she hasn't been expecting Cato.

"What's up?" Clove greets.

"So…" he starts, claiming the beach chair next to her, "you said last night we're going to be starting tomorrow. When are we exactly going to start?"

Clove lowers her magazine and lifts her sunglasses up to her head. "A little eager, aren't we, Cato?" She comments.

Cato just keeps his gaze on her. He's hoping that somehow, Clove will feel intimidated by it and will soon cave in. He can't deny the feeling in his gut that Clove still has not planned anything that will help him with his problem. If he knows, she's probably stalling.

"Stop looking at me like that," Clove says. "Don't even think about giving me that look because you know it doesn't work with me."

She stands up from her beach chair and starts heading back inside.

Yep, she is stalling, Cato thinks.

"C'mon, Clove!" He as well stands up to follow her.

"What in the world is your problem, Cato?" She asks, laughing. "I'm giving you the best service the agency can offer and you have the guts to complain? Geez, you should be appreciating everything I do to help you!"

"Here we go again with the agency." Cato replies.

"It's none of your business…at least not now," Clove answers. "I guess in time you'll find out what it is. The four of us only informs someone we know about the agency _if _badly needed. As for now, you don't have to worry about it."

Clove reaches her bedroom door and opens it. She doesn't even bother closing it because it's not like Cato and her are hiding something. She retrieves her laptop and jumps on the bed, Cato walking across the room and settling himself down next to her.

"What do you have there?" He questions.

Clove enters her passcode, not even thinking about the idea that Cato is just right beside her and could possibly be looking over her shoulder to see what her password is. Funny thing is, he is.

"Something that will help you with your one-night-stand-kind-of-guy problems." Clove answers simply, her fingers flying over the keyboard swiftly.

Cato furrows his eyebrows.

Soon enough, a picture of a girl with blonde hair and radiant white smile comes up.

"Carri Jensen. Twenty-one years old, a professional party planner. Kind, fun, outgoing, and single, just the way you like it." Clove announces as she faces her laptop towards Cato.

_"Blind date?" _Cato raises his voice, looking at Clove with a disbelieving expression on his features. "Really? Are you—are you serious, like—w-what? Really? And _her?"_

Clove turns the laptop back to her to look at Carri's picture once again. She shakes her head at Cato. "Why? What's wrong with her? She's pretty, fit, and she has a legitimate job. Not to mention, she plans parties for the big names—Coco Chanel, NBA players, actresses, singers, even the Kardashians! I don't get why she's not the real package."

"Clove, I don't give a single damn about her job. I don't care if she plans parties for the president of the United States. She's just not…_it._" He gestures at her picture on Clove's laptop screen.

"Oh, and did I mention she likes to surf and snowboard?" She says, thinking that if she mentions this, Cato will finally be convinced that she's a good woman.

"Well," Cato says. He thinks that girls who like to play sports are a big turn on for him. Slowly, even though he won't admit it, he's actually starting to maybe consider this girl. He just needs another extra push from Clove.

"Well?"

Cato shakes his head.

"No, just no."

"Why?"

"Okay, I'm going to be real honest here, Clove. I'm glad that you're helping me through this problem. I appreciate your hard work and all the effort you're putting on this, but, really? Blind date?"

"Since we're being honest here, please tell me why you don't want to go out with Carri?"

"Well," Cato pauses for two seconds before adding, "she just looks like the clingy type. And you know how much I hate clingy girls. Or what if she's a psychopath killer in disguise?"

Clove opens her mouth in disbelief and shakes her head. "I don't get you, Cato. At least, give her a chance. You haven't even met her yet! Look, we both don't know how she is as a person, so please do us both a favor and find out."

"No." Cato answers solidly. "I'm pretty sure there is another solution to my problem."

"But…you…can't say no." Clove trails off, her voice getting fainter that it almost sounds like she's whispering.

"Why?"

"Well…I may have or may have not set you both up to have lunch later." Clove admits, biting her lip as she reaches up to scratch the back of her neck.

_"WHAT?"_

"And you're supposed to be there in ten minutes."

Cato irritatingly rubs his face up and down. _Oh, gosh._

* * *

**I have a question for you peeps: is it just me or we all have that amazing want for the Agency's blog to become real? I sure do. Okay, here's the story for this idea: I was in my history class and my teacher was droning on and on, when I just basically spaced out and thought that it would be cool if I bring the Agency's blog to life. I can role-play, but there's obviously not gonna be any matchmaking involved. Just pure advice blog. You guys can send in your asks and specify which agent you would want an advice from.**

**Don't you guys think this would be cool? If so, what else do you want to see on the blog if ever I brought it to life besides the ones mentioned above? I really want to hear from you because I'm like determined to create this advice blog. I'm ready to take on the role-play challenge.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I am terribly sorry for the lack of updates. Of course, who's to blame? SCHOOL. My ACT is coming up, and I've been studying my butt off. And also, I had been attending state competitions so that pretty much kept me busy. Oh, and don't even get me started with math...and the papers I had to write for my Honors English class.**

**But anyway, despite all that, I was blessed to have a free time today, so I managed to finish chapter three. So, I hope you enjoy because this chapter is seriously going to be one of my favorites :)**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

"Clove, do I _really _have to go?" Cato groans for what Clove counted as the ninth time since the time she informed him about the lunch date that is happening in approximately four minutes now.

Clove rolls her eyes in response. She grabs him by his shoulders hard and literally kicks his butt out the door. Cato's eyes widen in complete surprise, having no idea that someone as tiny as Clove can do just that. He sees her with only her head poking out the front door.

"I really can't do this—"

"A-a-a! I don't want to hear another word from you, Cato. Now shoo! I just got an SOS from Fox, and I need to be there pronto!"

"Then what are you still doing there?" Cato questions, hoping that if he keeps their conversation going, he's going to be late for the lunch date and will reason that there's no point in going anymore. He's planning to say that since girls don't like guys that are always late to dates, he's pretty sure that Carri already hates his guts.

"Because I need to make sure you're not going to ditch your date!"

Cato raises his hands in surrender. "All right, fine! I'm going, I'm going!"

"Go! Shoo!" Clove waves at him dismissively.

Hearing the front door closing, Cato waits for exactly five seconds before making a U-turn and planning to enter the house through the back door, and stay at the game room for the entire lunchtime. He's pretty sure his plan will work since Clove rarely goes down to the game room.

Before he can put his "genius" plan to action, he hears a knock coming from the front windows. He swivels around and sees Clove peeking through the curtains. She meets his eyes and gestures to him that she's watching him closely—_very, very _closely.

And now, Cato has no option but to go to that lunch date. He starts to walk again only to look back and see Clove still standing by the window, and this time, she has her arms crossed over her chest and when she sees him looking, she taps her wrist to gesture he's running late.

_Please, let this be worth my time._

* * *

"Clove!" Glimmer calls from the top of the stairs.

Clove abruptly swivels her body the second she hears her name.

"I know, I know. I'm coming!" She responds.

"What are you looking at anyway?" Glimmer asks as she starts to descend the stairs. "You do know Fox just sent us all an SOS, and you know how she is when one of us is late. Her hair's going to be redder than usual."

Clove turns back to the window. "I'm just making sure Cato is not planning anything devious to ditch his date. I feel sorry for Carri."

"Cato? Ditching his date? Carri? What the heck are you talking about?"

Before Clove can answer, she closes the curtains and starts heading up the stairs, Glimmer following closely behind.

"Well, it wouldn't be fair for the other agents if I tell you now, right? So, what I would suggest for you to do is to wait until it's my turn to report. In that case, I don't have to retell the same story over again."

* * *

Cato arrives at the Luau Restaurant and claims the reservation Clove apparently had set out for him and Carri. A tall and tanned waiter leads him to the back of the restaurant at a table set for two.

As soon as he is seated, the waiter asks him if he wants something to drink while he waits for his girl. Cato considers telling the waiter that Carri is not his girlfriend—he doesn't even know her at all to begin with—but decides not to anyway. It's none of the waiter's business. And so, he tells him he only wants water in lieu.

Since Cato chose the seat facing the entrance of the restaurant, his eyes don't fail to take notice of the girl walking in. He assumes she's around five-eleven in height, and her blonde hair cascades down in a fishtail braid. Her figure-hugging yellow dress pretty much gives away all the curves she posses, and her long, slim legs look so smooth and delicate to the touch.

He knows she's Carri. And he also knows how much of a douche he is for even thinking negatively about the girl.

Carri sees Cato gawking at her, and she smirks when she recognizes him. She saunters her way to his table, making sure she sways her hips just right, before settling herself down in front of an almost drooling Cato.

_Huh, she's not so bad after all._

* * *

"About time the two of you arrive!" Fox raises her voice as soon as Clove and Glimmer enter her bedroom.

"It's not my fault. Point your finger at Clove! She's the one who couldn't keep her gaze off of Cato." Glimmer explains, claiming the empty spot next to Rue on the bed. "I know he's got a nice ass and all, but, let me give you an advice: try to be subtle the next time, 'kay?"

Clove opens her mouth to defend herself but nothing comes out. She raises her hands in disbelief.

"Wow, Clove, never thought you had it in you." Fox winks.

"I wasn't looking at his…_behind—_ "

"You mean his ass?"

_ "—_I was only trying to make sure he's not going to ditch his date."

"Geez, why so defensive?"

"Stop!" Rue yells, covering her ears. "I'm sensing some spoilers here, so please stop talking!"

The group finally simmers down enough to actually discuss about Fox's sudden SOS in a profound manner.

"Rue is right when she said there's going to be a clash coming up soon. And it's only what? Our third day here at the beach house?" Fox starts, and when everyone nods in agreement, she precedes. "Apparently, Katniss and Peeta are both giving the other silent treatments. I hung out with the two this morning, and I've never seen them interacting with one another."

"What happened?" Clove questions, resting her chin on the palm of her hands.

"Their significant others happened. That's what." Fox answers.

"And…?" Glimmer asks.

"I tried speaking to Katniss and Peeta separately and both had provided me the same answer. Even before the trip, Katniss's boyfriend wasn't really thrilled about her going with us because he knows Peeta is going to be here as well. And you know how Katniss and Peeta's relationship works, right? They have this odd friendship where they act like they're a couple rather than best friends."

The three other girls nod.

"Katniss's boyfriend wasn't happy because he knows Katniss and Peeta will be living under the same roof for three weeks. He thinks something's bound to happen that will ruin his relationship with her." Fox explains.

"Do you know what I think would ruin this relationship more?" Glimmer says. "Him being distrustful. If he really trusts Katniss, then why would he worry about her flirting with a guy—Peeta—who clearly is in a relationship as well?"

Rue points at Glimmer. "Good point."

"Wait," Clove pipes in, "what about Peeta's girlfriend?"

"Same." Fox is quick to answer. "According to Katniss, she's been feeling some kind of tension with Peeta's girlfriend every time she sees her. She even told me that there was this one time when she went on a double date with Peeta and his girlfriend, and since Katniss and Peeta just had this kind of magnet between the two of them, like they would often have touchy-touchy moments, the girlfriend started feeling jealous and couldn't stop sending glares at Katniss."

"Possessive much?" Rue comments.

"But thinking about it, if you were in the boyfriend and the girlfriend's situation, I think it would be understandable if you get jealous once in a while," Clove says. "Because to be honest, Katniss and Peeta have a tendency to complicate things. The boyfriend and the girlfriend just have to give them all the trust they have, and in return, Katniss and Peeta should keep their loyalty in tact."

"And this is why you're in the Agency, Clove, you're such a natural." Glimmer compliments.

Clove thanks Glimmer before turning to Fox.

"When are you going to have a talk with the two again?" She informs.

Fox shrugs. "Not sure yet, but I'll try maybe some time after this meeting."

There is a short moment of comfortable silence after.

"Okay," Rue starts. "Now that's been worked out—Clove? I believe you're working on a new assignment that we know nothing of. Care to shed some light upon us?"

"Last night, Cato walked up to me and asked for some help with his one-night-stand-kind-of-guy problems. He told me that he originally asked Fox for help, but since you know how their relationship works, this _girl_—" she says, pointing at Fox, "—decided his hopeless case is better off in my plate."

"Did you happen to be in the kitchen after our meeting yesterday?" Fox questions, her eyes slowly dilating.

"Everyone was basically just ignoring the mountains of dishes in the sink, so I decided to do something about it." Clove answers.

Fox lets out a guffaw, her hand soon covering her mouth to block out the loud and embarrassing noises she's creating.

"Were you really? Like, seriously?"

"Yes, I was. Do you think I'm joking?"

Fox wipes the tears building up in the corners of her eyes before her laughter finally begins to die down.

"I am so confused." Clove states, still looking at Fox in complete bafflement.

"So Cato told you I was the one he originally asked for help, right?" Fox asks.

"Yes, why?" Clove responds.

"I never really wanted to indulge into the matchmaking process with Cato as my client, so I told him to go to the kitchen and he'll find the person who's willing to help him with his problem."

"And unfortunately, I was that person." Clove says tiresomely as she finally had everything figured out. "Oh, joy."

"Listen, I'm really sorry. I never thought someone might really be in the kitchen when I told him to look there. If I had known, I wouldn't have suggested it." Still giggling, Fox apologizes.

"Look at the bright side, though," Rue joins in, "he's lucky you're the person he found in the kitchen last night—one that works for a matchmaking agency, and actually have skills. Just imagine if it were Thresh who decided it was a good night to be productive."

As a result of Rue's statement, the four of them burst into fits of laughter.

* * *

"You know if we're actually trying to get to know each other by now, I wouldn't mind you staring." Carri ventures tediously, playing around with the pieces of meat in her plate.

Cato feels his face becoming hot. He looks down at his fidgeting fingers with a sheepish smile. That's just how he naturally is when he's with a girl he finds attractive, he tends to gawk at her and then his fingers will be moving quite a lot. He even often plays thumb wars all by himself, and he thinks it's very embarrassing and unappealing to women.

"I'm sorry." Cato mutters.

"You remind me so much of my ex-boyfriend." Carri says, leaning away from the backrest of her chair.

"How so?"

"Same blonde hair, same blue eyes, almost the same built, but you're just a tad bigger than him. I always catch him staring at me. In fact, that's how we met . . . at a pub squished in between a fine dining restaurant, and an elegant boutique." Carri rambles on.

Cato notices she's staring off into space, so lost in her story.

"I remember I was wearing the same yellow dress, walked the same way as I did when I walked in this luau. I made sure my hips sashayed seductively as to grab his attention even more. I sat at the bar, constantly glancing over my shoulder to check if I still has his full attention. And that's when I notice him walking over towards me. It's funny how no one ever claimed the stool next to me, it's as if everyone in the pub knew it was for him . . ."

Carri still has her eyes on the same spot, focused on an object somewhere behind Cato. Meanwhile, Cato doesn't know what to do. He never recalls saying anything that led to this conversation. Heck, he hasn't even said anything but a muttered apology; he hasn't even properly and formally introduced himself.

He knows the ex-boyfriend is not really the most pleasant and appropriate topic to talk about on a first date—especially a blind one. But the way she talked about him intrigues Cato. He may not understand how women thinks, but he knows for sure that the girl sitting across from him is clearly not over her ex-boyfriend just yet. He even thinks it hasn't been a week yet since they broke it off.

For all he knows, Carri probably only sees him as a rebound. And honestly, it angered Cato.

"He offered to get me a drink, but I refused. I didn't know why I did, I wasn't thinking clearly that night. He took me someplace else after turning down his offer to purchase me a drink. It was indescribable, what I felt that night. We just drove around the city of Los Angeles, talking about ourselves—he even told me how many olives he wants in his pizza; I think we even hung around Santa Monica beach for a while despite the cold breeze the ocean brought. He lent me his jacket that smelt so much like him—sugary; it seems, but very manly and just so sexy. I was in heaven, Cloud 9 actually. I felt like a teenager once again." Carri finally averts her eyes away from that one object she's been staring at to gaze at Cato.

"Carri, I don't think—"

"I had two full happy years with him, and then he just became . . . distant. He rarely speaks to me, rarely acknowledges me when I visit him at work, he rarely takes me out to lunch or for dinner. Valentine's day has been nothing but silence between us. I didn't know what I was doing wrong to make him act that way towards me." Carri inhales sharply before letting out a ragged breath.

Cato knows she's on the verge of breaking down, and he's starting to get freaked out by it.

"And then one night . . . I came home to our shared apartment, and I heard laughter. I thought he had some friends over, so I was smiling and all that, happy because I get to show off my cooking skills. And when I went to our bedroom to change out of my work attire, I found him . . . on the bed . . . with a different girl. I remember her so clearly. A brunette with pretty Parisian curls, perfect bubble ass, flawless skin, and curves that could shy mine away; she was a Barbie doll, so to say. And I had nothing against her. Nothing." Carri's shoulders start to shake violently, and Cato's eyes widen having no idea how to exactly comfort a girl.

Of course, since he has Fox, Clove, Rue, Glimmer, and Katniss as friends, he obviously knows a thing or two about consoling a girl, but he always look and sound awkward in doing so. He has a tendency to make matters worse.

The best thing Cato can think of doing at the very moment is to reach across the table and hold her hand. He squeezes it gently, and Carri only gives him a nod in response, probably suggesting that she appreciates his efforts in comforting her.

"He was also bad at comforting a girl . . . just like you." And that resulted into even more hysterical sobs.

Ouch, Cato thinks, that hurt.

People in the luau start to shoot some quick glances toward their table, and Cato cannot help but feel irritated since people are probably labeling him now as the douchebag who broke a goddess-looking girl's heart at a luau restaurant.

Great, just what he needed to add to his portfolio of douchebag-ness.

* * *

The meeting has been dismissed approximately ten minutes ago, and now everyone in the group except for Cato is gathered in the living room, video-calling Marvel, who is in Connecticut because of college.

"Dude, when are you going to be done with school?" Peeta asks, shoving a handful of corn chips in his mouth.

"Um, well this week should be the last week of hell. I'm almost done with my documentary project, and as soon as I turned that in, I only have to tend to the other minor matters and then I'm done. I should be there soon, though, so don't miss me too much." Marvel responds, smirking cockily at a certain blonde.

Glimmer scoffs. "In your dreams, Marv. Honestly, we were just talking about you last night over dinner, and we all had this sudden realization that we're better off without you."

"I miss you too, Glim." Marvel teases.

Katniss coos at the two's interaction, looking back and forth from Marvel and Glimmer.

"I'm sensing something here." Katniss suddenly speaks.

"What now?" Prim asks.

"I smell something fishy between Glimmer and Marvel. I'm getting these chills down my back, and my cheeks heating up. And, oh! So much love in the air!"

Glimmer hits Katniss playfully in her arm.

"What was that for?"

"You need to control your mouth, missy."

"Listen guys, I gotta go. I need to retake a scene for my documentary and I still have a few clips to edit. Need to get this done sooner, so I can catch up with you guys." Marvel says. "Hey, where's Cato by the way?"

"He's out on a date." Clove answers.

"Oh, then he has some explaining to do when I get there." Marvel responds. "I gotta go, bye peeps!"

"Byeeeeeeee!"

No one really wants to click the End Call button, not even Marvel, who still keeps on waving at all of them. Sadly, Peeta clicks the forbidden red button, and the call ends.

"Well, I gotta run!" Glimmer announces, standing up from her spot on the loveseat.

"Where are you going?" Fox questions.

"I'm heading up to my room. Today has been a very eventful day, I guess."

"But we haven't even done anything." Katniss says.

"And doing nothing made me exhausted, so I'm taking a nap."

The group separates soon after. They are all busy minding their own businesses that no one notices the excitingly—and nowhere near exhausted—goofy grin plastered on Glimmer's face as she happily ascends the stairs.

* * *

Laptop in hand, Glimmer flunks down on her bed as her Skype call keeps on ringing. She knows he picks up the call right after the second ring, and it has been ringing for almost five times and still nothing.

Finally, on the sixth time, just as she's about to drop the call and redial, he answers.

Marvel's smiling face appears on her laptop screen very clearly.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Glimmer scolds right away.

Marvel's smile fades, and his expression turns into a mix of worry and confusion.

"What? What did I do now?" He asks disbelievingly.

"Are you out of your mind? Do you think it's okay for you to flirt with me when we were talking with our friends just a few minutes ago? Especially with Katniss around! You know how she is, Marvel. She even had a sense that something's going on!"

"Glimmer, calm down. It's probably just a joke. Besides, I know we established that we want to keep our relationship a secret for a while, and that we're going to choose the perfect moment to drop the bomb on our friends, but can you really blame me for missing you? I mean, you're in California and I'm in Connecticut. That's like almost 2,500 miles apart!"

"Marvel, when did you become this cheesy? Because really, drop it, it's not working for me."

"Oh, come on, you know you love it."

"You wish."

"Come on, say it." Marvel teases in a singsong voice. "Gosh, how I wish I could tickle you right now."

"Yeah, so not gonna happen."

"But, seriously though, Glimmer, I really do miss you. And I _cannot _wait for this dumbass documentary to get done and turned in, so I can fly all the way to California to see you." Marvel admits, his face turning into something serious.

"And to meet up with the rest of the group?" Glimmer raises her eyebrows.

"Yeah, that too, but mostly I'm excited to see you."

"Marvel, you're doing it again."

"Doing what again?"

"Being cheesy. Stop it. Sooner or later, I'm going to be puking rainbows in front of your pixelated unicorn face."

"I just love it when you talk to me like that."

Suddenly, Glimmer hears a loud closing of the front door followed by Cato shouting Clove's name at the very top of his lungs.

"Who was that?" Marvel asks.

"You heard that?"

"Well, yeah, obviously."

"It was Cato, and I think our little Clove might be in _biiiig _trouble."

* * *

**I also edited the last previous chapters, so if you found any mistake there, it's fixed :)**

**Don't forget to let me know what you think! Thanks!**


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